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The Constitution 2 Essay, Research
Paper

The Constitution

A case for the
connection of America s colonial and revolutionary religious and
political experiences to the basic principles of the Constitution can
be readily made. One point in favor of this conclusion is the fact
that most Americans at that time had little beside their experiences
on which to base their political ideas. This is due to the lack of
advanced schooling among common Americans at that time. Other points
also concur with the main idea and make the theory of the connection
plausible.

Much evidence to
support this claim can be found in the wording of the Constitution
itself. Even the Preamble has an important idea that arose from the
Revolutionary period. The first line of the Preamble states, We the
People of the United States… .” This implies that the new
government that was being formed derived its sovereignty from the
people, which would serve to prevent it from becoming corrupt and
disinterested in the people, as the framers believed Britain s
government had become. If the Bill of Rights is considered, more
supporting ideas become evident. The First Amendment s guarantee of
religious freedom could have been influenced by the colonial
tradition of relative religious freedom. This tradition was clear
even in the early colonies, like Plymouth, which was formed by
Puritan dissenters from England seeking religious freedom. Roger
Williams, the proprietor of Rhode Island, probably made an even
larger contribution to this tradition by advocating and allowing
complete religious freedom. William Penn also contributed to this
idea in Pennsylvania, where the Quakers were tolerant of other
denominations.

In addition to
the tradition of religious tolerance in the colonies, there was a
tradition of self-government and popular involvement in government.
Nearly every colony had a government with elected representatives in
a legislature, which usually made laws largely without interference
from Parliament or the king. Jamestown, the earliest of the colonies,
had an assembly, the House of Burgesses, which was elected by the
property owners of the colony. Maryland developed a system of
government much like Britain s, with a representative assembly, the
House of Delegates, and the governor sharing power. The Puritan
colony in Massachusetts originally had a government similar to a
corporate board of directors with the first eight stockholders,
called freemen” holding power. Later, the definition of freemen”
grew to include all male citizens, and the people were given a strong
voice in their own government.

This tradition
of religious and political autonomy continued into the revolutionary
period. In 1765, the colonists convened the Stamp Act Congress, which
formed partly because the colonists believed that the government was
interfering too greatly with the colonies right to self-government.
Nine colonies were represented in this assembly. The Sons of Liberty
also protested what they perceived to be excessive interference in
local affairs by Parliament, terrorizing British officials in charge
of selling the hated stamps. Events like these served to strengthen
the tradition of self-government that had become so deeply embedded
in American society.

The from of
government specified by the Constitution seems to be a continuation
of this tradition. First, the Constitution specifies a federal system
of government, which gives each individual state the right to a
government. Second, it specifies that each state shall be represented
in both houses of Congress. The lower house, the House of
Representative, furthermore, is to be directly elected by the people.
If the Bill of Rights is considered, the religious aspect of the
tradition becomes apparent. The First Amendment states, “Congress
may make no law respecting an establishment of religion or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof… ,” showing that, unlike
the British government, the new US government had no intention of
naming or supporting a state church or suppressing any religious
denominations.

In conclusion,
the Constitution s basic principles are directly related to the long
tradition of self-rule and religious tolerance in colonial and
revolutionary America.

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